Private Secretary Trivia Quiz

Answer: Making copies

You made copies as you typed. A sheet of carbon paper went between the original and each successive onionskin (a thinner, translucent sheet sometimes called a "flimsy"). It was probably someone who always got the fifth or sixth copy of letters who ran out and invented the Xerox.

Answer: In a typewriter

Silk was often used for a typewriter's ink ribbon. I still treasure a tiny Madame Butterfly Silk Ribbon tin.

Answer: A plastic "sleeve" on which to record letters for transciption

These were very pretty bands of translucent green, blue and red plastic. An office worker today would think they were the thermal sleeves to put around a scalding paper cup of cappuccino.

Answer: All of these

Ditto machines were used to make multiple copies of the same document. Some grade schools still use them. I remember being so stunned when our home economics class learned to make macaroni salad, because, to me, the pickle juice dressing smelled exactly like ditto fluid. Took me years to warm up to what's now called "pasta" salad. (For non-USA readers, home economics was a cooking and housekeeping skills class girls were required to take for graduation and, yes, I worked as a secretary during high school.)

Answer: Inside a typewriter

The platen is that long, black roller that pushes your paper up so the keys can strike it. It looks like it's made of licorice! The typewriter repairman nearly fainted when he saw me whip the platen roller out of the machine to get at something I'd lost under it. To him, it was a delicate technical maneuver; to me it was the fastest way of getting my label out. Heh heh.

Answer: An envelope stuffer

And I never did figure out how to use it.

Answer: All of these

Spongy little devils. You typed them without a ribbon so the goo would squish aside and let the mimeo fluid through to print the copies (hence the white typing). To correct errors, you daubed on more blue goo that made airplane glue seem salubrious. Oh: a mimeograph was another multiple copy maker like the ditto machine.

It made better looking copies: crisper black and white, whereas the ditto was usually purple and little smudgy looking.

Answer: A typewriter eraser

You had two kinds of them: harder rubbers for originals, and softer ones for copies. And it really did make a difference which you used on which sheet. Before White Out, correction sheets or lift-off tape were invented, you erased errors this way: You flipped the paper forward, stuck a curved metal sheet between it and the carbon sheet, flipped the paper back and scrubbed away. You repeated this for each carbon copy you were typing. Meanwhile, you prayed for a manager who would buy EaseErase paper or at least one who wasn't too cheap to buy a Xerox.

Answer: You use it to whiten gray erasure smudges

You stroked it on, then buffed it lightly with a fingertip. Clean hands were necessary for this job. While doing this you again prayed for a manager who ..... , etc. etc.

Answer: Cleaning the squeegee on the copier

Early copiers were ghastly. It did one page at a time, used foul-smelling fluid and you got to pull that green gunk out of it twice a day. (For non-USA readers, "barf" is slang for, pardon me, "vomit.")

Answer: Dividing a steno book page vertically into two columns

When you took shorthand, a narrow column was easier to write across, so you took dictation faster. The Gregg System of shorthand was the most popular in the United States.

Answer: Straightening out copier curl

Remember the early fax machines? Early copiers worked just like them. If the paper didn't come out of the machine curly, it came out slightly damp.

Answer: Change the typewriter ribbon

The plastic sleeves were worn to keep your cuffs clean while working, but some of us didn't wear them unless we had to -- they cut into your wrists and looked, well, not that glamorous. They were perfect, though, for the dirtiest job of all: changing (or untangling) the typewriter ribbon.

These tangled easily, especially if you were a very fast typist. Probably they were the reason supply companies started carrying plastic sleeves ("gauntlets"). You pulled these elasticized cuffs up over your wrists and over your clothing so you didn't come out looking like a chimney sweep.

Answer: No, they are nothing like each other

Pitman is generally used in Europe. Gregg is the most frequently taught in the United States - that is if anyone teaches shorthand anymore. Taking shorthand from right to left happens only when you are very, very tired.

Answer: Rubber sorters

You slipped the larger ones over your thumb and the smaller over the tip of your middle finger. You could now sort through papers quickly and neatly. These are still manufactured today as a great alternative to fingertip moisteners or licking your thumb (gack!).